Valerie pulls a pair of blue shorts and a small white shirt out of a plastic bag. The shirt is stained with blood. It`s the school uniform of her eight-year-old son Nathanael, who was kidnapped on his way to class in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Exchanges of heavy weapons fire erupted in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday between the army and militia fighters, and several students sitting exams were wounded in an explosion at a school, residents said.

The UN agency said yesterday there are now 11 suspected cases, including three reported deaths, in Likati in Congo's northern Bas-Uele Province. WHO said one death has tested positive for an Ebola strain seen in the country before.

A court in Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced a political opposition leader to five years in prison on Wednesday, a human rights advocate said, a judgment that risks imperiling multi-party talks meant to organise a presidential election next year.

At least 17 people, including three policemen, were killed when Congolese police and anti-government protesters clashed in the capital Kinshasa on Monday during a march against President Joseph Kabila and what the protesters see as his bid to extend his mandate.

A long-awaited "national dialogue" to avert political chaos opened in Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday despite the absence of many opposition figures who described the event as a government "trap".